


A Nightmare in Time

by WhippedBean



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: (Be wary of these tags please!), (I'm just putting them in now so I don't forget), (im just adding them now so i dont forget), (more tags might be added as the story continues), (yea most of these tags don't come in until MUCH later on in the story), Arachnophobia, Chasing, Claws, Cobwebs, Giant Spiders, Horror, Hunting, My First Work in This Fandom, Other, Sharp Claws, Sharp teeth (might wanna tag this one just in case too), Spiders, bones showing (might wanna tag this one just in case), puppets (kinda?), slight body horror (Kinda? Not until later though), slight gore, slight mentions and brief showings of blood, slight skin ripping (also not until much later)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25856965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhippedBean/pseuds/WhippedBean
Summary: After waking up from an unusual nightmare, Hat Kid finds a strange timepiece in her ship before accidentally breaking it, transporting her to an alternate universe where there's anything but nice and happy, maybe dropping that timepiece wasn't the best idea...(Please remember to be mindful of tags even though they wont come in until much later when I change the warnings for the story, thank you and have a nice day/night/afternoon!)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	1. Prologue

She was running. Where to, she didn't know, but she knew she was in danger, the dark figure keeping pace with her in the trees told her so while she ran desperately through the bushes and plants, stray limbs from the low hanging tree branches snagging onto her clothes, trying to rip and tear the fabric, attempting to slow her down so the creature that was chasing- no. **_Hunting_** her, could catch her quicker, as if her labored breathing and the sound of dried up leaves crunching beneath her boots wasn’t helping it keep track. She had been running for so long that her legs hurt and her lungs burned from exhaustion, as if screaming at her to stop, to stop and breathe. Until she tripped, that is, and she tumbled down the dirt below her, landing in a small pile of bushes that caused her to cry out in pain as thorns jabbed into her, and an ear piercing laughter rang out through the trees, to which she quickly whipped her head around in order to find the source of both the noise and her downfall.

She saw the same figure dart past her from the shrubbery to her side, the laughter continued, followed by the clanking of chains hitting each other as a voice, so sweet and melodic it was sick, called out to her from the darkness, along with a pair of mismatched and glowing red eyes, causing her to frantically pull at a tree root that had caught onto her ankle, but then the child froze for a moment before she realized, much to her horror, that they were slowly creeping closer, and she felt hot tears gather up behind her eyes as she tugged on the vine more frantically, the tears threatening to spill as she choked out a sob. _She didn't want to die, not like this._

Tearing away the root on her ankle, she shot up off of the ground and tried to run in the opposite direction, keyword tried, but she was in such a hurry that she had failed to notice the figure let out a dark chuckle that had yet to reach the ears of the girl who fled in the direction she had come from as the figure’s eyes narrowed and they slowly sunk backwards and into the darkness of the trees behind them, a sinister smile creeping up onto their face. The girl was running now, faster than she was before, and she didn't slow down until she had looked behind her and didn't see anything. Slowing to a walk she turned back around to face the direction she was going in, only to bump into something, but it wasn't a tree, far from it, she realized as she pushed herself off of the strangely plush, yet scratchy, dark and stained red surface and slowly looked upwards, stumbling backwards in the process as her eyes met the ones she thought she had lost just a little while ago, fear enveloping her body as they spoke, a voice, so sweet and melodic it was _sick_ called out to her, _“Why the rush child? I thought you liked it here? Don't you want to **stay**?”_ they said, grabbing ahold of the girls wrist tightly enough that there would almost certainly be a mark and leaning down, tilting their head to the side rather quickly, at an angle that caused their neck to let out a short yet sickening crack, in question as she tried to yank her hand out of the creature's grasp, but before she could scream out for help, everything went black.


	2. Chapter 1

Hat Kid woke with a start, shooting upwards as a shriek ripped from her throat, the lights in her room lighting up at the movement while she patted herself down and her eyes darted around her room, searching for any kind of danger that could be lurking around the place, before she realized that she was safe and wiped some of the sweat that was on her forehead off onto her sleeve, which didn't do much for the sweat causing her clothes to stick to her skin, making her shift uncomfortably in her spot before grabbing her hat and setting off into the main hub to check on her time pieces. Walking through the purple hallway as the almost matching carpet swirled beneath her boots, she stopped, she heard a noise, it almost sounded like the ships gears had stopped, and they creaked and groaned as they tried to continue the repetitive motion of spinning aimlessly in order to help maintain the ships main function as best they could. 

Hat Kid looked around before rushing out the doors in front of her, Hat Kid darted off into the machine room to check on the gears, freezing at what she saw. There was a time piece stuck in between the gears, but not like any time piece she had seen before, this one was  _ red  _ and had what looked like teeth lining the rim of it and an eyeball in the center of them while what she thought was sand sitting inside, but as she looked closer she came to the realization that it was more liquid than anything, bubbling idly while it flowed from one side to the other, causing a shiver to run up Hat Kids spine as she gulped and took a step forwards, grasping the edges of the time piece and giving it a firm tug, pulling it lose in the process. While she looked it over, the gears started back up again with a sudden jerk, causing her to jump and lose her grip, the time piece rocketing towards the floor and shattering upon impact and freezing time just as the liquid inside was about to hit the floor and a darkness enveloped everything, warping and twisting anything in its path into something that would strike fear into the hearts of those who lay eyes upon it.

Hat Kid looked around, patting herself down in the process, her eyes widening upon realizing that her hair had grown unkempt, her eyes sunken and tired, and as rips and tears crept up her sleeves and the hem of her dress, the entire bottom half of her cape having been ripped to near shreds, she realized that her ship was different, nothing was missing, it was just dark… a little too dark. The gears in front of her had rusted along with the pipes on her walls, struggling to keep working while the machines and computers lining the platform in the center had been busted and looked as if they were collecting dust, even the screen by the window was shattered and the lever beneath it was missing its cover, the remaining half still stuck in place, indicating that if it was working properly it would still be stuck on ‘really bright’ which caused a small smile to form on her face as she let out a breathy chuckle and continued her course around the ship. Walking out into the main hub, she realized that Rumbi was nowhere to be found, which would explain the mass amounts of dust lining her ship’s carpet, and it worried her greatly, causing her to dash about the ship until seeing the broken vacuum sitting on the desk in her room, tools and blueprints littering the surrounding portion of desktop, causing her to rush over in a panic, seeing the open panel on the underside was open while they were flipped upside down and the circuit board inside had been removed and was laying on the desk next to it, wires and chips were either missing or broken and the screen on the front of the little vacuum had been cracked, causing thoughts to flood her head as to what could've happened. 

All of this was cut short when she heard a loud bang com from the main hub, causing her to whip around in a hurry, making herself dizzy in the process, and crept out into the main hub to investigate. She grew both confused and surprised once she saw the cause of the sound, there was someone outside her ship, banging on the glass door she had installed into the giant window on the front of said ship. One of the few things about them that stuck out to her as she walked up to the door to see what he wanted, was the dull, grey eyes that bore into hers as he spoke, but she wasn't listening, she was too busy fearing both him and the faded red smears on his dark blue pinstripe covered suit and the slightly fresher red splatters on the sides of his half torn apron, what brought her attention back to him and what he was talking about was when he had reached up and grabbed the golden handle on the glass door and tried to pry it open in order to get inside, to which she quickly hopped up onto the golden rim of the glass window and pulled on the handle on the opposite side, not surprised that it didn't help, and instead of it going in her direction, kept going in his. 

Before she knew it, the door had broken off of it's hinges, and every loose item lying about was sucked out into the vast and open void of space, including her time pieces as the vault they were usually inside jerked open because of it being so old from never being used, and surprising her that it didn't actually fly off of the wall, as the orangish-red clock that was normally imprinted onto the front of it was broken, causing them to fly out and scatter out onto the planet below, one of them smacking her upside the head and knocking her out cold in the process as the cold hands of space grabbed the two of them and sucked her and the strange man down onto the planet below.


	3. Chapter 2

It was dark and stormy that night, not a star could be seen through the thick grey clouds covering the sky, and as the streets turned slick with the rain pouring down, the multitude of puddles that lined the streets were disrupted from their spots as a girl ran through them, her frizzy blonde hair hiding underneath a damp red hood as she tried to avoid the rain, but she froze as she heard something, her abrupt stop causing the large puddle beneath her old teal shoes to splash up into the air and soaking into the bottom of her faded purple jeans. Her head turned to look behind her as what sounded like a groan came from a dark alleyway she had passed just a moment ago, slowly, she turned and walked forwards, hesitant at first for she did not know of the possible dangers that lay before her, and she cautiously stepped into the darkness of the alleyway, the shadows enveloping her the farther she went, she was always a curious little girl, wanting to press on into things normally unknown.

Walking into the alleyway, she noticed a girl laying on the pavement and almost directly under a large blue tarp with a giant hole in the middle from where she had fallen through, strange, she didn't remember seeing any other kids around mafia town. After having looked her over and rummaging through her pockets to see if she had anything that was valuable or could be used against her if she woke up, she hoisted the girl up and slung one of her arms around her shoulders before letting out a tired huff as she did her best to bring the girl back to her ‘home’. While busy dodging the various, yet scarce, robots out in the rain trying to mop up the puddles as best they could with the storm rolling in, she was careful not to slip or drop the girl she carried with a tremendous effort, even though it wasn't much, freezing in her tracks after accidentally kicking a can out of her way whilst readjusting the girl, she winced as she heard stiff footsteps slam into the ground behind her, causing her to slowly look up at the rusted robot standing behind her before she darted off, not daring to look behind her as she ducked into an alleyway and waited while holding onto the frail girl in her arms and watching as the robot stormed past before she slowly started making her way down the slippery streets and slick boulders lining the island just above the sand, moving aside a few rocks and dragging the girl into the small little cave she could barely call a shelter.

The night passed by slowly, but quicker than it normally did… or did it… she couldn’t really tell. Waking up with a groan, Hat Kid shifted in her spot where she lay with her head on an old, sandy pillow with a matching worn out blanket that was too thin to keep anyone warm. Her attention was drawn to the entrance of the small sheltered place by the large boulder serving as the entrance being slowly nudged aside and a small, frail little girl crawled through the opening it had created before she quickly pushed it closed again and the slow, yet thundering sound of footsteps sounded from outside but quickly faded out and were replaced by the quiet soundings of the ocean and sky bound seagulls. "Oh… you're finally up, I thought you were a goner for a minute there…" Hat Kid was caught off guard for a moment, not expecting the girl to have such a strong accent--or really speak at all for that matter--as she simply gave a nod as response and dusted some of the dry, dirt littered sand off of her, taking off her boots and dumping a few grains out.

"So...uh.. What's your name..? Mines Mustache Girl," she wasn't much for conversation; as her voice held a slight quiver and cracked here and there from lack of use, causing a dull ache to form in her throat. Hat Kid kept quiet. "..Not much of a talker are you..?" She swallowed a thick lump in her throat as it started to burn from lack of water. Hat Kid's attention was drawn down the her--now ripped--shirt sleeve, a large scrape where it once was. Reaching her other hand up to the injury, she let out a hiss, as she had pressed a few grains of sand onto it, and catching the attention of the other girl who had turned towards her and let out a short gasp before quickly bringing a fist up to cover her mouth as she was thrown into a short lived coughing fit. Grabbing a small roll of bandages off of a small rock, which served as a very inconvenient table of sorts, "Here… this should help. Oh! And I managed to get you something while I was out," she said whilst handing Hat Kid the--worn out--roll of gauze before quickly opening up her other hand to reveal two, very dry, and what she assumed to be, buttermilk biscuits, "It..s… not much, but its all i could find," handing one over to her and keeping the smaller one for herself, Mustache Girl helped put the gauze onto Hat Kid's arm, "There… that should hold for a little while,"

Mustache Girl’s eyes widened as she heard a faint crash in the distance, followed by the sound of water gushing out from an unidentifiable source, “Did you.. Hear that..?” she turned and asked her newly found companion after having pressed her ear up against the rocks guarding the caves entrance. Hat Kid shook her head. Pushing the small rocks she had for a door aside, Mustache Girl peeked out of the small hole she had opened and crept out, ushering Hat Kid to follow her and holding a finger up to her lips as she did so and crept around the large boulders making up the lower half of the island. Pressing herself up against the stone beside her, Hat Kid questioned where exactly they were going despite knowing good and well it was most likely towards the origin for that noise Mustache Girl had heard earlier. Clambering up the different market booths and buildings, the two peered over top of the clocktower above the small area considered the ‘Town Square’ and noticed the small crowd of mafia trying to figure out why an hourglass suddenly slammed into the fountain in the center of the shops, “Did you have anything to do with this?” Mustache Girl’s hushed question, so quiet, Hat Kid almost didn’t hear her despite being shoulder to shoulder with the girl. Shaking her head, Hat Kid took off her tophat and held it in her lap while they watched everything unfold. The group of mafia were suddenly shoved aside as another approached, wielding a torn and faded blue umbrella as they pushed the others back with it and held up the hourglass, inspecting it from a few different angles, a few murmurs running amongst the other, followed by a few grumbled complaints.

Hat Kid made a fatal mistake in that moment as she adjusted her grip on the crumbling, pale cemented ledge her and Mustache girl sat behind, unknowingly sending a few bits tumbling down as one hit the shoe of the mafia member holding up one of her time pieces, causing them to reach down and pick it up before snapping their head up in the direction of the two, pointing their umbrella up at them, alerting the others. Both girls let out a gasp--though Mustache Girl’s was more sharp and scared--as they backed up and Mustache Girl darted off back to her small cave, leaving Hat Kid behind as one of the goons picked up a heavy looking rock and chucked it up at her, effectively hitting the glass of the clock behind her and leaving a large crack in its wake. Hat Kid stood up and put her hat back on, sprinting a good few feet away before tripping on a loose stone in the pathway and tumbling down into a pile of crates next to a broken staircase, effectively being knocked out and the last thing she saw was the outline of a strange man approaching her to ask if she was alright before everything went dark.


End file.
